


Muses and bruises (on fruit)

by freckledknuckles



Category: American Vandal (TV)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, M/M, blonde sam, idiots to lovers, pining and yearning and all that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:55:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24454798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freckledknuckles/pseuds/freckledknuckles
Summary: What started out as a media project spirals into a catharsis of their life-long friendship.Because what if Peter finally sees Sam, not only through the lense?
Relationships: Sam Ecklund/Peter Maldonado
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	Muses and bruises (on fruit)

**Author's Note:**

> im going insane in quarantine, my English is on a decline and so is my sense of identity. this will be a lil writing exercise about my dumbgayboys when im not eating or daydreaming. enjoy!!

It was September, time for parties with a pool involved where everyone desperately tried to make memories. And also for the asinine "What I Did This Summer" assignments. Peter was sitting by the window, fiddling with his pen and just waiting for _something_ to happen. Anything. Since school started two weeks ago, he's been walking through the halls like he was his own shadow. Nothing felt good, nothing felt right. After a sweaty summer that prompted him to make three movies (all equally bad but with a loving feeling), school was crushing him. Or at least that's what he told himself. 

The truth was that it was Sam, or rather his absence, that made Peter leave his camera at home along with his English homework. His partner in crime has been gone for four months and he was supposed to return at the end of October. Peter was ashamed of counting the days, of how lonely he was. Before Sam left for Berlin, joking about "sex-positive" European girls while packing, Peter just laughed. When he snuck a clover in Sam's suitcase for good luck, he didn't expect he was going to be the one needing it. 

Because with the seat empty beside him in each and every class and summer turning into fall, Peter felt kind of like a wife of a soldier. Waiting, oh-so-patiently, sick with boredom. But here, in Media Class, he could _almost_ make out the shape of his best friends body beside him, he was so used to it. He could vividly imagine Sam doodling dicks on the desk or showing him memes until he had to cough to cover up his giggles.

"...Peter?" Mrs. Decker caught him staring off into the football field. "You still with us?"

He straightened himself up in his chair, shaking off the weird feeling that crept into his lap. "Sorry, Mrs. Decker."

"..so?" she was looking at him with an anticipative expression and Peter did not have the answer. Someone nudged him from the back, whispering something about a partner. For a video project. About his summer.

Peter thought he could just hand in his little movies, pretending that it took him entire summer to make them. But working in pairs meant working with someone annoying and lazy. He once again cursed Sam and his escape to the wildreness of a German art school. The thought of the lanky American learning German and awkardly navigating his life always amused Peter and made him feel protective at the same time.

And then, when he was about to succumb and just let Mrs.Decker assign him some loser who was left, there was a knock on the door. It was loud and somewhat cocky.

The person knocking did not wait for an answer, almost barging in. 

Peter immediately felt the feeling, that _something_ he has been waiting for, grabbing him by the throat. The sun crept in and hit the newcomer like a theatre spotlight. 

Everyone in the room wanted to gasp but no one did, staring at him like he was otherwordly. It was Sam, but it wasn't Sam, not really. What used to be chocolate brown hair was now short like the grass on the football field, bleached to shit, and very soft. Sam's slim figure was hidden by a ridicilously big leather jacket and when he walked, a dangly earring threw light all over the room.

Peter looked at him, silently, like the rest of his classmates, but he expected a warmer welcome than the nod Sam gave to them. He felt the space beside him begging to be replaced by the reassuring presence of his bestest of friends. He wanted to feel at least _seen._

But Sam passed him by with his eyes peeled to the hideous carpet, lips curled in a grimace Peter never saw on him. Whether it was confidence or shyness he couldn't tell.

"Ok, hello to Sam then!" the teacher's voice betrayed her and came out as a mousy squeak. But no one could blame her when her favorite student came back looking like.. _.that_. His presence made the classroom heavy with something they couldn't name. But Peter wasn't in awe, just angry and not impressed. They wrote each other letters and emails and Sam never mentioned his look, let alone returning home so soon. That made Peter sour and even more distracted then before, toes curling in his sneakers. A pair of eyes was buried into his back and he knew that if he turned around, he would be staring into Sam's.

The teacher already recovered from the shock, flashing white teeth when she spoke "Well, Peter, looks like the problem's solved! You and Sam should be done in a few weeks."

Peter almost said something, something lame and snarky about having to befriend "a punk" in a few weeks, but he didn't. All he could think about was Sam's summer. The pierced ear, the freckles on his jaw, the fact he looked so different than he sounded in his letters. If Sam before Berlin was small and round letters under dick drawings, current Sam was something illegible scribbled in cursive.

"Sure, but what's the theme?" at least there was the familiarity of Sam's voice that made Peter feel at home. 

" _My Summer_...you should probably include some footage from Germany and put it together with Peter's material." Peter didn't want that, his last couple of months were far from exciting and he didn't want to see his mundane life right next to whatever Sam took from Berlin back home with him.

"Can't wait." Peter automatically turned around to see if the stranger in the skin of his best friend was being sarcastic, but Sam smiled at him. The way he's been smiling at him since they were five and tried to drown each other in the shallow side of the pool. 


End file.
